EPISD teachers asking for better education funding

by Ashley Claster

Teachers wearing red at EPISD meeting.

EL PASO, Texas —

Teachers in the El Paso Independent School District want better education funding.

It is illegal for teachers to strike in Texas. So instead of teacher walkouts like the ones happening across the nation, EPISD educators wore red shirts and stood in solidarity to ask for better funding during Tuesday's board meeting.

The El Paso American Federation of teachers said the district needs to refocus and reinvest in the proper places, like its people, its campuses and building the trust of employees and the community.

The teachers said they are spending more than $500 of their own money every year on school supplies.

They say with 35 kids in a class, individual attention to students goes out the window.

Ross Moore, president of the El Paso American Federation of Teachers said teachers are fed up.

“These shirts represent the frustration and anger that is building up in educators throughout the country. Like I said during my public remarks, it’s not just a shirt, it’s a movement. The constant underfunding by states of public education, the cuts, the internal decisions,” Moore said.

EPISD spokeswoman Melissa Martinez says the district is backing the movement.

“Certainly we are in support of all of our staff members. Not only the teachers but our custodians, our bus drivers, our central office employees,” Martinez said.

CBS4 asked some with the American Federation of Teachers if they thought their message was heard during the meeting. Moore said he felt the trustees were attentive but pointed out that the superintendent was on his phone.